Jean-Jacques Hebert

Jean-Jacques Hebert (16 October 1777-9 January 1842) was a colonel of the Grande Armee of the First French Empire during the Peninsular War. Hebert was the general who commanded the French army at the Battle of Bermellar in 1811, and he was defeated there by Viscount Wellington.

Biography
Jean-Jacques Hebert was born in Rodez, southern France on 16 October 1777 to a military family; his father, Edouard Hebert, served in the cavalry of the French Army. Jean-Jacques Hebert followed in his father's footsteps and became a cavalry officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, serving in the prestigious Grande Armee of the First French Empire. Hebert came to command a regiment of dragoons, and he led a small army of 303 troops during the Peninsular War; the army separated from Jean-Andre Massena's main army during the retreat from Portugal in 1811. In late April 1811, Hebert was defeated at the Battle of Bermellar, and he barely managed to escape from the battlefield. Hebert returned to France, and he would retire to his hometown of Rodez, where he died in 1842.